Kind-hearted residents have received praise for the goodwill they give to their community, as national Volunteer Week 2017 draws to a close.
A five-week Volunteering Campaign which ran from 2nd May to 7th June featured local volunteers and partner organisations in a series of short videos, from across County Durham and Darlington.
Led by Ron Hogg, Durham Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner, the online campaign celebrated the valued work of residents, who go the extra mile to help communities or individuals who need extra support.
Ron said: “I launched the campaign to celebrate the work of ordinary people, who give up their free time to help others in their community, and to raise the profile of what they do”.
Videos from criminal justice organisations, councils, NHS bodies, the voluntary sector, charities and smaller community groups all joined in the campaign. The videos included subjects such as domestic abuse, road safety, support for tourist events and many more. They showed the benefits of helping victims and their families, and other vulnerable or isolated people.
“I’d like to thank all the volunteers and organisations that got involved in the campaign. The video messages have been varied, and we still have more to publish on social media over the next few weeks.
“Videos either guided victims or the vulnerable towards local support services, thanked hard-working volunteers for their contribution, or promoted new opportunities to get started in volunteering. I encourage people to watch and share the videos if they can.”
During the campaign Ron’s YouTube channel has so far received over 4,300 views. The Facebook videos reached almost 20,000 views and over 35,000 views on Twitter.
Resident Jon Ullathorne is a local volunteer who goes into schools and works with young people to address road safety.
He said: “It’s really important to me that my voluntary work can make a big difference in my local area. By giving back to the community, I can assist children to make important life choices at a young age, which can help to reduce the number of needless accidents or fatalities, on our roads.”